Should Your Car Wash Use Coupons?

Car wash coupons show up everywhere—in banner ads, on social media, in email blasts, in the mail, in newspapers… But just because they’re everywhere doesn’t mean they’re necessarily a good idea, and here’s why:

If you overdo coupons you risk creating a scenario where your customers ONLY use your car wash when there are coupons for them to take advantage of. This can create a doomed if you do, doomed if you don’t scenario where your coupons cannibalize your profits, but without them your counts drop to zero.

Alternatively, promotional days or the OCCASIONAL coupon can help bring customers in expand your audience. Just be sure that you are using a coupon opportunity to your greatest advantage.

Opportunities include:

-Tying your coupon to a social advertising campaign. For instance, washes can be half-off if your customer takes a picture of your wash’s logo and posts it to Facebook, tweets it on Twitter, or Instagram’s it. They get the wash, you get social advertising exposure from a trusted source (your customer) to a greater audience (their friends or followers).

-Requiring customers to input an email address (and join your email list) in order to receive the coupon or discount. You are able to send individual coupons (which can help you better track the number of individuals receiving your coupons) and you can expand your contact list for newsletters or other promotions.

-Offer promotions ONLY on your monthly membership program. Customers still receive value, and they are much more likely to stick around and renew their wash membership. They are incentivized to get MORE washes, not take one promo wash and stay away, waiting for the next one.

For more ideas on how to maximize your wash’s operations, read through the rest of our blog and see how Tommy Car Wash Systems has perfected the modern car wash design! Check back soon for more.